Solomon Eke met his Waterloo on Monday after a High Court in Kaduna sentenced him to three years in prison for impersonation.
The anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), revealed this via its official Twitter handle, @officialEFCC. According to them, Eke had taken the persona of an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, John Smith and used it to defraud unsuspecting individuals.
After his lid was blown, Eke was traced and captured at Kurudu Phase 5 Abuja with 24 other like-minded individuals.
A spokesperson from the agency explained that: “The defendant was arrested by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at Kurudu Phase 5, Abuja, alongside 24 others following intelligence on his alleged internet fraud-related activities.
“Investigation revealed that he operated a Facebook account with the name Kelvin James. Further investigation showed he impersonated an agent of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation by the name, John Smith.”
Eke, he explained was then slammed a one count charge: “That you, Solomon Eke (a.k.a Kelvin James) and others now at large, sometimes in July 2022 at Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this court, committed an offence to wit; falsely presented yourself as Kelvin James; a white man and a Trading Manager to several unsuspecting victims via ‘Facebook’ (a social media application) in a bid to lure them into love scam, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 142(1) of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017.”
Eke did plead guilty and he was then sentenced to three years imprisonment by Justice Darius Khobo. He was however given an option to pay the sum of N150,000 and to further relinquish his iPhone 14 ProMax to the court.